Monday, April 27, 2015

Get This Album: Zyxt - "Method & Shape"

A couple months ago I mentioned this album in a post about a series where musicians were challenged to write an entire album from scratch in one month using no presets whatsoever. At the time I had only heard it briefly and didn't go into detail, however I've since had several hours to delve into it and wanted to bring the spotlight back and illuminate it further. Now, as you can imagine my expectations weren't terribly high for an entire album written in a mere month - that's quite preposterous in fact, considering it typical takes musicians year(s) to craft a suitable full length. So with that considered, Zyxt blew me away with Method & Shape. It got a great classic 90s-IDM feel to it, and many parts quite remind me of Chiastic Slide (and thereabouts)-era Autechre which you really can't go wrong with. And I don't just mean "it's good for something written in a month", I mean it's a legitimately awesome album and could stand up next to anything else that took longer to put together. This is the perfect mix of dreamy ambient atmospheres and subtle-yet-complex percussion sequences, making it a great album to put on and drift off to (though active listening is equally rewarding). So if you are a fan of 90s melodic, emotive IDM than pick this up right now (and hey it's free)!